Adding a single conductor traveler to convert a circuit to 3-way without replacing entire circuit

[HomeownerPhill]

I have a 12/2 lighting chain that's about 50 feet long. One endpoint has a switch. The other endpoint is a few feet from where I want to put the second switch. I'm wondering if there's a legal way to convert a 12/2 lighting circuit to the equivalent of 12/3 without replacing all the original wire, perhaps by running some type of single conductor jacketed wire as a traveler between the two switches. I could just run another 12/3 romex between the endpoints, but it seems like a waste of cable when I really only need to run a single traveler. Should I just suck it up and run 12/3?

 

[Dennis Alwon]

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