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Firefly character
Kaylee Frye
Gender	Female
Born	late 25th century
Homeworld	Unknown
Occupation	Mechanic of Serenity
Notable relatives	Parents living
Portrayed by	Jewel Staite

Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye^[1] is a character from the short-lived television series Firefly, and the movie Serenity. Kaylee has exceptional mechanical aptitude, despite her lack of formal training, and serves as ship's mechanic to Serenity. Kaylee is considered by the crew to be exceptionally sweet and chipper, the type who maintains a bright attitude even when others are feeling low.

Kaylee is played by Jewel Staite.

Kaylee joined the spaceship Serenity when its captain Malcolm Reynolds found her having sex with his then-mechanic, Bester, in the engine room of Serenity. While Bester informed Mal that the ship could not be fixed, Kaylee quickly repaired Serenity. Mal immediately invited her to take Bester's place.

In the pilot episode, Kaylee is shot by Alliance agent Lawrence Dobson. Simon Tam uses her injury as a bargaining chip to be allowed to remain on Serenity with his sister, River. Kaylee develops a romantic attraction to Simon which remains unconsummated during the series' run, even though it is clear that Simon feels the same way toward her. Often it is his 'proper' attitude that prevents the two of them from ever engaging in a more meaningful relationship, although he also often makes comments that unintentionally hurt Kaylee's feelings, such as when he says that every other woman he knows is either married, a "professional", or related to him.

While Kaylee is being tended to by Simon after being shot by Dobson, Jayne Cobb is huddled on the catwalk outside of the infirmary when Kaylee is being operated on. Earlier in the episode he had been banished from the dinner table for lewd comments relating to her obvious attraction to Simon, yet his obvious concern emphasizes her importance to him, and implies just how deeply the rest of the crew cares about her.

Kaylee has shown an affinity for strawberries. As part of payment for being allowed passage on Serenity, Shepherd Book offers her a small box of strawberries, which she eagerly accepts. In a later episode, when she accompanies Malcolm Reynolds to a ball, she immediately homes in on the bowl of strawberries on the buffet table.

Despite her mechanical aptitude which allows Kaylee to fix just about anything, she has a desire for girlish things and is annoyed when Mal does not see that she is a woman as well as a mechanic. Although most notable in the episode "Shindig", this recurs throughout the series. The overall relationship between Mal and Kaylee closely resembles that of a brother and sister. In the pilot, he refers to her as "Xiao Mei Mei" meaning "Little Younger Sister" in Mandarin. When, in the movie Serenity, she tells him of her longstanding sexual frustration and occasional resort to mechanically-aided masturbation ("...goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries!"), he responds with anguish, "Oh, God! I can't know that!", after which Jayne promptly chimes in, saying "I could stand to hear a little more...."

On the rare occasion that her ability as a mechanic fails her, she tends to lose her sunny disposition, as happened in "Out of Gas". Kaylee tends to personify Serenity, talking about her as if the ship were a sentient creature, and Kaylee takes insults to the ship personally.

In the movie Serenity, Simon Tam confesses his feelings to her, which she reciprocates; the ending strongly implies they are now a sexually active couple, as Kaylee and a shirtless Simon, kissing each other ferociously, sink out of frame to the engine room floor, with River peeking in.