Philip re-enlisted with the Marines, but unfortunately he was badly injured and in need of a face transplant. His rich and powerful father Victor hired a doctor and hid Philip in a secret room in the mansion. Victor got on Belle's good side and arranged for secret visits between Philip and Claire. Just as Shawn and Belle were mending fences and working out a suitable arrangement for custody of Claire, Victor arranged for Claire to be kidnapped from a diner in order to make Belle look like an unfit mother. Victor then hired a woman from Child Protective Services to investigate Shawn and Belle. The two young parents were devastated when they were forced to hand Claire over to CPS. They went to court and were aghast to discover Philip with a new face. Victor paid Willow, the ex-hooker who briefly hooked up with Shawn, to lie on the witness stand. Victor also paid off the judge. Due to these circumstances, Shawn and Belle lost custody of Claire. Philip became a cold and calculating man, ready to do whatever it took to get back the child that he had loved and raised from day one.
Shawn and Belle went on the run with Claire to Toronto, Canada, where Philip eventually tracked them down with Willow's help. Belle managed to sneak Claire out of the safehouse and away from Philip. Shawn and Belle then ended up on a cruise ship, but Philip and Willow caught up with them once again. The two parents jumped ship and ended up on the island of Tinda Lau. Philip found them once again, and kidnaped Belle and Claire where they ran into a typhoon. Shawn tracked them down, where the three called a truce once they realized their lives hung in the balance. The three mended fences and agreed to go back to Salem and work out an agreement concerning Claire. They were rescued, but Claire went missing in the storm. Philip went from a vindictive, angry, cold-hearted military brat to a kinder, gentler version of the "old" Philip virtually overnight.
Philip soon hired a private investigator to find Claire. He invited Shawn and Belle to move into the Kiriakis mansion with him so they could work together to find Claire and as a way to make up for his previous misdeeds. Although Shawn was still leery of his uncle, Belle convinced him that it was the right thing to do for the time being.
Philip and Belle went to Chicago after clues led them to believe that Claire's captor had enrolled her in a baby pageant there. Shawn soon arrived and displayed his jealousy when he caught Belle and Philip embracing. The three were reunited with Claire after she had been taken by a woman, who had disguised Claire as a boy. Shawn and Belle were grateful for Philip's help in getting their daughter back.
With Belle's help, Philip set up a job interview for Shawn to take place in Cleveland. Bo found out that Philip set the whole interview up and told Shawn. Meanwhile, Philip began receiving cryptic phone calls of a baby crying in the background. He went to Bo for help, but Bo urged him to hire a private investigator. Philip went to his sister Billie for help, and she traced the phone calls to Indiana. Further clues indicated that Philip had a son named Tyler Kiriakis in Indianapolis, Indiana, so Billie and Philip went there to check it out. They soon realized that the calls came from Shawn and Mimi's surrogate Lauren and were shocked to discover that she carried the baby to term. It turned out that Bonnie Lockhart had been paying Lauren to carry the baby to term, since she was convinced that she could swindle big bucks from the Kiriakis men with an heir. A DNA test from Tyler's bib proved that Philip was the biological father.
Meanwhile, Kayla and Steve Johnson decided to become foster parents to an abandoned baby they found at the hospital. They gave him the nickname Pocket. Little did they realize that Pocket was actually Philip's son Tyler Kiriakis. Philip was unaware just how close his son was.
Shawn and Belle soon moved out of the Kiriakis mansion, as it was causing a rift in their relationship, and Philip made it his mission to find his son. He was angry with Shawn when he discovered that Shawn knew about Lauren's cryptic calls and met her in Indianapolis on the 4th of July instead of going to Cleveland for his job interview. Philip enlisted Belle's help in going to Tulsa, Oklahoma to a woman's shelter to find Lauren and confront her. They found the surrogate, but came up empty-handed. The two grew closer and realized how good of friends they had become again.
Philip nearly gave up his search for Tyler after numerous dead ends and didn't want to become the same ruthless and vindictive man he was before. He realized that he still had feelings for Belle. Philip and Belle were summoned to the hospital by Shawn, who revealed that Lauren was there. Both men confronted Lauren over where Tyler was, but she accidentally took a tumble down the stairwell and fell to her death. Before she died, Lauren left a clue which indicated that Tyler was in Salem.
Philip soon discovered that Steve and Kayla had taken Tyler in as a foster child, although they were unaware that Tyler, A.K.A. Pocket, was his biolgical child. Steve and Kayla were under investigation when it appeared that "Pocket" was poisoned. Mrs. Meyers, the social worker assigned to Pocket's case, put the baby in foster care with Mr. and Mrs. Wilkens. It was soon revealed that Pocket had a rare genetic condition known as MMA or Methylmalonic Adicemia. After seeing Tyler/Pocket with his foster parents, Philip made the decision to let him go, knowing that a baby couldn't fill the hole in his heart.
Philip professed his undying love for Belle. Feeling distraught over her father John Black's death, Belle sought comfort in the arms of her ex and they ended up making love in her room above the pub. Belle immediately regretted it and was chastised by Hope for cheating on Shawn. Philip played on Shawn's insecurities about Belle and got into an all out brawl with him at the pub. Philip still managed to steal kisses from Belle, even though she promised to stay away from him. They nearly made love again when Belle went to Philip's Titan office the eve before her wedding.
