Dad, listen to me, she is living with H.I.V. you hear me? Living. It's not going anywhere, and neither is she. 
Green Arrow (Volume 3) #44 is an issue of the series Green Arrow (Volume 3) with a cover date of January, 2005. It was published on November 10, 2004.
Synopsis for "New Blood, Part 5: Positive"
Mia Dearden is revealed to be HIV positive, the direct cause is unknown, either from her days of being trafficked, or from drugs she took to stay awake and alert while living on the streets. Ollie is taken aback by this revelation, seemingly unsure what this means for Mia going forward. He expresses that money is no issue when it comes to treatment, and neither is support. Mia is prescribed HAART (Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy), an expensive treatment that is covered by her insurance.
Connor and Detective Lopez discuss Danny "Brick" Brickwell being let out of custody despite killing the mayor and district attorney. Lopez divulges how scared the city's officials are, and that no one will go after Brick out of fear them and their family will be targetted. Connor expresses anger at how easily he got away with it, before being interrupted by a phone call from Ollie. Hearing what has happened, he rushes home.
At home, Ollie, Connor, and Mia discuss her diagnosis, though Mia seems calm and unbothered by the turn of events, explaining she knew it would happen eventually. Mia tells the two not to worry, that the side effects of her medication may suck, but it won't bother her. Connor tries to get her to open up more, but Mia waves him off and leaves, citing a long day. Ollie is impressed by her toughness, but Connor can see through it, and asks Ollie how he is, only to be waved off once again.
Ollie checks in on Mia as she sleeps, not noticing that she's actually lying awake. He walks down to the basement, and begins to angrily attack multiple training dummies, aggressively impaling one through it's centre.
Two weeks later, Mia leaves for school with lunch prepared by Connor to help with her nausea. Ollie tells his son to not make such a fuss, as Mia is clearly doing fine. Connor objects, explaining she's clearly in denial, as is Ollie. The two argue over it, with Connor accusing Ollie of believing Mia has a death sentence, and of being terrified. He tells Ollie she's living with HIV, not dying of it, and that he'll have to deal with his issues eventually, as will Mia. At school, Mia puts on a brave face, waving at her classmates.
Later that evening, Connor finds Mia alone in the backyard, he sits next to her and encourages her to open up to him. Mia finally explains that she's not scared of her diagnosis and the effects of it, she's more worried about how people will perceive her now, believing herself to be "dirty". She doesn't want to be alone, worried that now she's HIV positive, no one will love her. Connor responds by kissing her, to show she's not "infected" like she believes. He confirms it was meant symbolicly and not romantically when Mia questions him, and she thanks him for it. Oliver watches this from a second storey window overlooking the yard.
Appearing in "New Blood, Part 5: Positive"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Dr. Coffey
- Detective Lopez
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in the Green Arrow: Moving Targets trade paperback.
Trivia
- Mia's diagnosis was directly inspired by writer Judd Winick's real life best friend, Pedro Zamora. [1]
- Mia's prescribed drug therapy is Tenofovir and Efavirens once daily, and Lamivudine twice.
See Also