Prologue

Third person P.O.V.

4 years ago.

Jasper Hale, previously Major Jasper Whitlock, silently walked into the Seattle Children's Hospital during the night, just before the day shift changed to night.

Normally he didn't like to visit hospitals at all, the feelings from people around him threatening to overwhelm him; the pain from the sick, the constant worry from loved ones, stress from the staff …

Of course there were others too – the feeling of victory after a successful surgery, the hope brewing after the doctors delivered good news, the joy of new parents …

But now, none of the feelings swarming the place seemed to reach him now. His own worry and fear was too big.

Finally he came by the room Alice had said she should be in and drew an unnecessary breath into his lungs. The smell of antiseptics, human hospital food and sickness – bodies in disruption filled his nostrils, nearly making him gag. Blood too, but the smells of sickness were too overwhelming for his blood lust to take over.

Quick and quiet as a viper he opened the door soundlessly and went inside the room. Two people were inside.

A girl of 12, perhaps 13 years was sleeping in the hospital bed while a man, probably her adopted father snored in the makeshift bed beside it.

For a moment he just stood and watched her – his mate. Alice had been right, as usual. He didn't dare to think she had been, but the proof was right here.

Too pale, too thin, and hooked up to machines, yes, but this was his mate. He just had to look at her to know, the feeling of sudden warmth springing up from his heart and spreading out through his entire body, despite its frozen state.

He had never felt anything like this, not when he and Alice found the Cullens, not when he met Alice, not even as a human.

Jasper had felt hope when he met Alice, he had felt hope and joy when she told him there was a mate coming for him in the future, but nothing like this.

The girl in the bed was still a child, or more accurately, in that awkward state between going from little girl to young woman. He could see she'd had her growth spurt, making her height more than that of a child, but the rest of her body hadn't seem to have caught up yet.

And with her illness making her even thinner she probably looked more like a pipe cleaner standing up.

But with her long, wavy hair, the same fiery color as the Texan sunsets he remembered and loved and the pattern of freckles dusted over her pale skin, she was still the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

She would be alright. Alice had said so. But it didn't matter, he had to be here with her during this.

All his siblings (except Alice, since she already knew) had protested when they learned of his plan, saying it was too early for her to see him, that finding out about the vampire world when she was so young and during such a trying time for her would be dangerous.

"And what if you lose control?" Edward had even had the audacity to say.

Jasper nearly growled out loud, thinking about it. He wouldn't show himself to her, he wouldn't change her now, not when she was so young and certainly not against her will – but he needed to be here for her!

Alice had told him from the start that his mate had been born with an incurable disease - Autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, or simply ARPKD.

Carlisle had explained to him that in layman's term it was a disease that caused cysts to form on the kidneys and sometimes the liver in infants and even fetuses, deteriorating the kidneys' function.

His mate had been lucky, though. Her symptoms didn't appear until she was two years old – newborns experiencing the symptoms from the start often died.

Jasper had stayed away then, despite knowing how sad and lost the little girl must have felt when strangers examined her, gave her new pills she suddenly had to take every day, and with the pain of the symptoms forming.

He had stayed away one year later when Alice sadly had told him that her parents had died in a car crash but that his mate was unharmed, since she was at her godfather's, playing with his daughter.

Even when Alice told him last year that his mate's illness had become worse and she now had to go through dialysis three times a week to do what her kidneys no longer could, he had stayed away.

But now he couldn't stay away any longer. Alice had seen that his little mate's kidneys were on the brink of giving up, that she was near death, despite the dialysis. Luckily for her transplantation was possible; the adoptive father – her godfather was a match and was willing to donate a kidney.

She would be alright. But he would be here with her, close by just in case. Silently he stepped a bit closer to the bed, carefully reaching out with his gift.

Jasper could feel her emotions, even in her sleeping state. She was drained from the constant battle with her body, anxious about the operation that would take place tomorrow, but also hopeful.

He smiled and sent her a wave of calmness, comfort and the feeling of being safe.

His little mate's lips twitched and her mouth formed into a small smile in her sleep.

Suddenly the door to the room opened and a beam of light from the corridor fell into the room. Jasper quickly darted into the darkest corner of the room, too quick for the human eye to see.

A female nurse stuck her head in through the door, checking the two sleeping humans. But the light apparently woke the girl up and she looked around confusedly, blinking toward the light.

Jasper wanted to growl at the nurse that had gone and awoken his mate when he had just eased her worries and made her sleep better, but he didn't. She was just doing her job.

"I'm sorry if I awoke you, Ellie," the nurse whispered. "Just checking in. Do you need anything?"

The girl shook her head. "No, thank you."

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" the nurse wondered.

Ellie licked her lips, thinking about it for a moment. "I was. When we went to bed earlier tonight I felt worried. But now … now I think I'm good. It will be alright."

The nurse smiled, nodding at her. "That's right, sweetie. The procedure will go just fine, everything will be alright."

Ellie nodded back and the nurse closed the door, making the room fall into semi-darkness again. The girl lay down again, yawning loudly before falling asleep once more.

Jasper stepped out from the dark corner, almost tip toeing on his toes to not rouse her again, even though he knew she wouldn't hear him.

He read the name on her patient ID-bracelet before walking out of the room. Eloise H. Jennings.

Ellie was short for Eloise then. He glanced at her a last time, sending her a tendril of lethargy and calmness so she would have a good night's sleep before the procedure.

"It's not our time to meet yet, Ellie," he whispered. "But I am here for you. Always."

He closed the door and decided to wait the night out in one of the staff's locker rooms. He would not leave the hospital until the operation was done and deemed successful.

Ellie was his mate. It was not time for them to be together yet, but that didn't mean he shouldn't be there for her when he knew. Knew that they belonged to each other.

A/N: What's this? Another Twilight story?

Yes, indeed. I got the idea for my other story, Masquerade of Life, this summer while reading Volturi fanfictions.

This story I've had in mind for nearly a year and a half though, just haven't had the time to start with it. But now it's in progress!

Stephanie Meyer own Twilight and it's characters, what you don't recognize is my creation.